Sail Pandora

If you follow this blog you know that I am the Port Captain in Antigua for the Salty Dawg Fall Rally to the Caribbean this fall.  The rally has a number of destinations and I will admit that I am biased about where you should make landfall.

In particular, I think that you should make your destination Antigua.  And, it’s all about what happens once you arrive.  In spite of what some say, it’s not all about the journey and after an ocean run of over 1,000 miles, you will be ready for some R&R and have we got some great R&R in store for you.

I have gotten a number of questions about what is planned for those who do the rally or join us in Antigua, so here goes.  Some have also asked me if they could join in with the fun even if they don’t do the rally and the answer is YES!

We’d hope that you would decide to join the Salty Dawg Sailing Association but that’s up to you, so come to the party.  N0, make that “parties” as there are plenty of events coming your way in Antigua.

Better yet, if you are one of the many Dawgs that have been down in Grenada or Trinidad for the summer, sail north to Antigua in November and join us.  It’s not that far, really, and I promise we’ll make it worth the trip.

The arrival activities are slated to begin when the bulk of the boats in the rally arrive in Antigua so for planning purposes, they are slated to kick off on November 13th and run for nearly 10 days.

Let’s call it “A Week of Celebration, Antigua style”

The goal is to tap into the best of what Antigua has to offer and to do so in a way that won’t break the bank.

So, with that in mind, we will be hosting a series of fun events to celebrate your arrival in Antigua, wherever you come from.

It’s all centered on Nelson’s dockyard, arguably the most spectacular destination in the Caribbean.   I am working with the National Parks commissioner to arrange for discounted dockage, probably somewhere in the $.50US/ft/day, a bargain in a spot as beautiful as this.Nelson’s Dockyard:  The plan is for all “Dawgs” to tie up along the dock for a week of fun.  This historic dockyard is one of the most beautiful and well-protected harbors in the Caribbean.  Nelson’s Dockyard, the only operating Georgian Dockyard in the world, was once home to the British Royal Navy.   You will be in the heart of the Salty Dawg Arrival activities when you join the fleet here.

You can also anchor in Falmouth or even in English Harbor but wherever you are, these events await…

Tuesday, November 13th it all begins…

Antigua Sailing Center Happy Hour:  Overlooking beautiful Falmouth Harbor, the sailing center is active for local sailors.  Join us for drinks and appetizers at special happy hour prices.   $5 US payable at the door and cash bar.

Thursday, November 15th

Rhum, Reggae and Art:  Join us for an evening of fun to celebrate the season opening of Rhythm of Blue Art Gallery, located between Falmouth and English Harbor.  There will be a local Reggae band on hand to set the mood along with complimentary light snacks, rum drinks as well as beer and wine for sale at very reasonable “happy hour” prices.  Who knows, you might win a prize.

Friday, November 16th

The Royal Navy Tot Club of Antigua and Barbuda:   An evening with this group was one of our most popular events last fall.   The “Tot Club” grows out of the  discontinued tradition of issuing a “tot” of rum to all officers and seamen in the Royal Navy.  Learn about local British navy history and raise a glass with fellow Dawgs and Tot Club members all for $3 US, such a deal, payable at the door.  Includes a “tot” of fine rum in a fabulous historic location.  Drinks at happy hour prices are also available.

Saturday, November 17th

Fleet Welcome Happy Hour at Admiral’s Inn:  This venue, in the heart of Nelson’s dockyard, is arguably the most scenic venue in the area.   Our fleet will be treated to drinks at happy hour drink prices as well as supplied light hors d’oeurves.  $10 cover charge, per person, payable at the door.

It’s a spectacular venue. Our arriving skippers and crew last fall. 

Sunday, November 18

Antigua Yacht Club Member/Guest Welcome Reception:   Enjoy appetizers and even a welcome rum drink, compliments of the Yacht Club.  This event is a must as we meet local members of this wonderful club overlooking beautiful Falmouth Harbor.  Government dignitaries will be invited as well as members of the Marine Trades Association so you can meet businesses that can solve any problems you might have with your boat.   Cash bar.

Monday, November 19th

North Sails Open House at the Loft:  Complimentary beer, wine and snacks at the North Sails Loft, English Harbor along with fun door prizes.  You can’t beat free!

Tuesday, November 20th

Safe Arrival Welcome Dinner, Admiral’s Inn:  Held poolside at Boom restaurant, at the Admiral’s Inn with a breathtaking view of English Harbor, this enormously popular event celebrating our arrival, will feature a barbecue dinner overlooking beautiful historic Nelson’s Dockyard in English Harbor. (reasonable fee)

Thursday, November 22nd

Thanksgiving Dinner at the Antigua Yacht Club:  To be held at the Antigua Yacht Club and managed by Angie in “the Clubhouse.”  This event with a popular local band will carry a modest fee and will also be open to all Antigua Yacht Club members.And, if you and your crew need some shore-time, the Admiral’s Inn is offering rooms for arriving crew and skippers at very attractive “dawg rates” starting at around $150 per night.  Contact The Admiral’s Inn for more information.  Mention that you are with SDSA for these rates.And, of course, on the “off nights” there will be informal pot luck dinners and cocktails behind our boats in Nelson’s Dockyard.

Finally, can’t decide where you want to cruise this winter?  Antigua is ideally situated for cruising farther south as well as making your way, on a civilized broad reach of course, toward the Virgins, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas later in the season.

Oh yeah, one more thing.  If you hang out in Antigua for New Year’s Eve, you’ll see spectacular fireworks in the Dockyard.  It’s not to be missed. But best of all, all season long, you’ll see sunsets like this.  So, there you have it and there’s lots in store when you join us in Antigua.

Still not convinced?  Need more information?  Contact me, Antigua Port Captain, Bob Osborn, bob@saltydawgsailing.org

It’s only a few months until the Salty Dawg Sailing Association fall rally to the Caribbean arrives in Antigua and, as port captain for Antigua, I have been busy putting together a terrific mix of arrival events.   The Antigua Yacht Club, local business, national park service and government have been very supportive and has made my job a lot easier as I work to put things in place to make it worthwhile for you to make the run south with us.

The plan, upon arrival, is for the fleet to tie up in Nelson’s Dockyard for at least the week of festivities and we anticipate a very special rate as low as $.50 US/ft per day.  We plan to kick off our events on November 13th or when the bulk of the fleet has arrived safely.   The Dockyard is the only working Georgian dockyard in the world, once the center of the British Navy in the Caribbean.  What a beautiful place to make landfall after a long ocean voyage with the Dawgs. It’s a feast for the eyes wherever you turn, including ruins of a British Navy sail loft and the current home of the aptly named Pillars restaurant, part of the beautiful and so historic, Admiral’s Inn. We will again have our welcome cocktail party at Pillars.  Rally participants at last season’s reception. Our arrival dinner will be held at Boom, poolside, overlooking the dockyard.  And, it’s quite a spot. Imagine yourself with an icy rum punch with all of your Dawg friends in this setting.  Oh yeah…  Want some shore time after a long voyage south or perhaps a spot for your crew and family to hang out for a few days.  There are very special “Dawg Rates” at the Admiral’s Inn, starting at about $150/night US.   Join the rally, contact them and identify yourself as a Rally participant to get these rates.

And, don’t forget that all of this is right in the dockyard, where you’ll be snugly tied up.  This is a shot of the Oyster round the world rally when they stopped in Antigua. The harbor is a feast for the eyes with spectacular yachts from all over the world. The Antigua Yacht Club will be our host and they are there to help you.  Each boat will receive a skippers bag upon arrival with valuable discounts from many local business as well as information on what to do during your time in Antigua.

Just stop and see Nesie, who will help you with anything she can to make your visit to Antigua a great time. The clubhouse is located in Falmouth Harbor, a five minute walk from English Harbor.   Club members plan on throwing a welcome party for us, a special member guest event.   They will even provide in some free food and drink to make us feel welcome. Last year we were greeted by the Minister of tourism as well as the club commodore.  The event was very well attended by the Dawgs who had a great time. There will even be a special AYC member/guest Thanksgiving feast if you choose to be on-island for the holiday.   Angie, who runs the clubhouse restaurant, plans a wonderful event with all the turkey and fixings at a very reasonable price.  There will even be a band for dancing.   This might have been the most popular event last fall.  I even got a peck on the cheek when I presented Angie with a rally flag.  That flag, is now flying proudly in the clubhouse. Here’s one of the staff, they love the Dawgs, sporting one of our “Ts”.  But wait, there’s more, a total of ten special Dawg events, planned just for you.    I highlighted these events in another post so click here to learn all the details.  And let me tell you, there are lots of details.  There will be a free open house, complete with wine, beer and snacks at the North Sails loft in English Harbor.  Other events include a local art gallery who’s throwing a “season opener” party to welcome us to the island.  There will even be a reggae band on hand as well as free rum drinks and dancing.

The Royal British Navy Tot Club of Antigua and Barbuda, (and yes, this proves that there is a club for just about anything you can imagine), will host a very special event in our honor at the beautiful Copper and Lumber in the Dockyard.

The Tot Club was founded in the 90s by a small group devoted to preserving the naval history of Antigua,  including Mike, a colorful keeper of British Navy history on the island.   Want to know what happened in British naval history on February 21st, 1885?  Mike surely knows the answer.  Join the group, and it’s not as easy as it seems, but if you do, you too can get one of the official “Tot club” shirts.  I became a member this spring and wrote about the experience, that included a lot of rum tots in some remarkable places including a 150′ schooner, in this post.

An evening with the Tot club was one of our most popular arrival events.  Each day at 18:00, year round, the Tot Club meets to celebrate British Navy history, toast the end of the working day and the Queen, of course.   It’s a wonderful way to honor the history and tradition of the British Navy in a wonderful setting.  You really won’t want to miss this. Some say that the “real Caribbean” begins in Antigua and Falmouth Harbor Antigua is a great spot to begin your winter season and journey south toward Grenada.

There’s lots more in store for you if you make the jump to Antigua with the Salty Dawg Rally in November.  Departures are planned from Hampton VA and Essex CT.  It’s a wonderful group and you will surely make great friends along the way.

One more thing.  This post is only the tip of the iceberg as there are ten, count em, ten days of arrival events planned that you won’t want to miss.

Want to learn more?  Visit the “official Dawg” site and apply today.   And, if that’s not enough, the rally is very inexpensive.   In addition, there are days if pre-departure activities including blue water seminars, dinners and weather routing by Chris Parker of Marine Weather Center, for the entire trip south.

If you take the trip to Antigua, this view could be yours, rum punch in hand as the sun sets below the western horizon.  Antigua is wonderfully situated so that wherever you decide to go later in the season, south to Grenada or Trinidad or north to the Virgins to begin your run north in the spring, it’s always an easy reach.

Join us, you’ll be glad you did.  Click here to sign up now.

Don’t miss out.

This post is up for one reason and that is to get feedback on which color to paint Pandora, our Aerodyne 47 sloop.  She’s been a very dark green Awlgrip since being launched in 2007 and has already been painted again, just a few years ago.

Someone once said to me that “there are only two colors to paint a yacht, white and stupid”.  I will protest this position as a yacht painted a dark color makes a dramatic statement but for sure, dark hull colors don’t hold up for nearly as long as white.    As good as a dark hull looks, it does cost a lot more to keep it looking good so lighter does seem to make sense.

So, while I may like the dark color hull the best, we have found, after 6 tropical winters, that a big downside of a dark colored hull is that it gets really hot, especially in the afternoon when the sun is low and beating on the starboard side of the hull.  And, it’s nearly always shining on that side as the prevailing winds are just about always blowing from an easterly direction.   Additionally, as we don’t have crew (just me) to wash her down each day, salt builds up along with minerals that are really hard to remove and give the hull a messy look, especially near the waterline.

Additionally, the paint and the top clear coat have peeled in some areas from the intense sun and that doesn’t even begin to describe the wave of heat that billows out when we open some of the lockers.

So, here we are, deciding on the color for yet another paint job, her third since being launched in 2007.  The shed pre-arrival.  Pretty big space.  Not so big now.  She fills it right up.  So, here she is being prepped and now is a good time to think of what’s next.  That’s where you come in.  Ok, so the plan is to nix the dark color and go to something lighter, perhaps a LOT lighter.  Easier to keep looking clean and a lot cooler.   Here’s Pandora in her current color scheme. The shop doing the refit offered to modify the photo of Pandora to show different Alexseal color options as well as boot tops and cove stripes for comparison.   As a note, we are going with that brand of paint as opposed to Alwgrip, as it’s a bit softer paint and somewhat more resilient to dings as well as easier to repair.  I understand that many of the really big yachts, that are always being touched up, have gone to Alexseal.

Here’s the darkest option we are considering, “Kingston Grey”.   This rendering includes a dark green boot top and cove stripe for contrast.  Having said that, it doesn’t have to be green.  However, her upholstery down below, for what it’s worth, is dark green so the color is a nod to that. And, the same color without the boot top and cove stripe.  From my vantage point, she looks a bit bulbous without the contrasting stripes.
Now, for some lighter colors. “Light Grey”, a good deal lighter than the prior option.“Whisper Grey”, even lighter, but still with the striping. A bit lighter still.  “Pearl Grey.”So, the question is really dark or light grey?  The issue of the color of the boot top will also need to be addressed.  Her bottom is black now and will likely have to be black, blue or perhaps red as those are the most common colors for ablative paints.   The renderings that they did show a white contrasting bottom paint below the boot top, which isn’t correct.

I understand that they will be done sanding and will apply a light grey primer on Tuesday so I’ll be able to see what she looks like “grey” then.

So, what do you think?

Oh yeah, one more thing.   It’s been a while since I have posted a shot of our Grandaughter Tori.  We thought that she was still pretty little but she doesn’t look so quite so little since the arrival of the twins, fresh from the hospital last week.  Meet her sister Emme and brother Rhett.  

After a decade of use and thousands of sea miles under her keel, it’s high time for Pandora’s rig to be checked out.  I had known that this was needed when I purchased the boat three years ago as I was pretty sure that her first owner had never removed the rig.  As evidence of this, I had to cut a new opening in the cabinetry to remove one of the fittings that held the mast in place as there was absolutely now way to get at it.   Based on that, I am pretty confident that the rig has been in the entire time since commissioning.   It’s time.

Pandora has rod rigging and it is recommended that it be replaced, or at least carefully checked after 30,000 miles, I think, so one way or the other, it’s high time.  Additionally, as Pandora’s heading into a paint shed this week for a new coat of paint on the hull, the rig needed to come out anyway, so out it came.

I spent hours taking the sails off and making sure that all the wires were labeled and removed in preparation for the job.

On Thursday afternoon Brenda hoisted me up the back stay to remove the SSB antenna wire.  I also loosened the shrouds so that when the crew boarded on Friday morning all would be ready for removal.

She looked pretty forlorn on the dock with the boom removed and sails off. It takes a village, or at least a small mob, to remove even the smallest mast and while Pandora is not a small boat, she’s not all that big.   Brian, the yard manager and default crane guy for the day was ready and looking, well, looking pretty bored, actually. Chris, the “up the mast guy” took his time to be sure that everything was perfect.  Up the mast to attach the bridle. I was very concerned that there was something missing from my prep efforts that would keep the mast from breaking away from the boat after a decade in place and that the crew would have to put the job on hold while I got the prep right.

But, after a few minutes of pulling with the crane, it suddenly lurched up, along with my heart, a foot from the step. The step itself looked terrible, with lots of corrosion.   All four bolts holding the step in place were badly corroded.  Looks expensive.  This one, in particular, also holds the ground wire.  What about using stainless guys, when you built the boat?  Hmm…Some of the hydraulic fittings were a mess.  What about using stainless here too?    There’s a number of these that are in very bad shape and I am told that the plated ones that were used are $10 and stainless, $100.  Oh, I get it…The tide was coming up fast and it looked for a while like we wouldn’t be able to get the mast high enough up to clear the deck.  But we did, barely.  If the mast looked big on board, it looked even bigger on land.  It’s remarkable how many guys it takes to pull a mast.   I can’t even imagine how much it would have cost if I had just said.  “Guys, I want to pull the mast.  Have at it.”  The hours it took me to label everything, pull the sails, run messengers for lines, remove electrical connectors etc…

So, off to Stratford on Monday morning, tomorrow, where Pandora will be hauled and put in a shed for the next five weeks.  I am looking forward to visiting  regularly to chronicle the process of getting her ready for her new paint job.

And, I’ll be able to put some new graphics on her hull and boom and get rid of the nasty ones that are there now.

It’s going to be odd to head down the river and Sound tomorrow with no mast.  Boy, I sure hope that nothing happens with the engine.   You never know…

As complicated as the process of pulling Pandora’s rig was, it’s nothing compared to the rig on a mega yacht.  Check out this short video of how complicated it can be when it’s the rig on a 180′ sloop.  They say that a boat is nothing more than a hole in the water that you pour money into and I’d say that it’s true.    At least I can be confident that my hole is a lot smaller than the owner of that boat.

Having said that, let’s hope that this process doesn’t prove to be any more painful than I expect.

“Wait, is that a sucking sound I hear?  Hey you, let go of my wallet.”

When I talk to folks that have not made long runs offshore in a small boat, the most common question is “do you anchor at night”.  My answer, if I was a bit snarkier than I am, would be “Yes, we carry 15,000 feet of anchor chain and just let her rip.”   But no.  I don’t say that…

The point here is that it’s very difficult to explain what it’s like to be at sea in a small boat.  And yes, Pandora at nearly 50′ is small.  Especially when you are hundreds of miles from land.

To see a full moon rise at dusk with a single sail on the horizon…The growing glow on the eastern horizon as a raceboat crosses our bow.  
A Swan, with a hotshot delivery crew overtaking us on their way to Puerto Rico hundreds of miles south of Bermuda last fall. Hundreds of miles from, well, anything, and still, they came so close…A rainbow after a passing tropical shower.
Something as simple as a sunset is an event as it goes from blues and grays…To a fiery display…Sometimes there are others out with us to enjoy the majesty of it all.
More often, it’s just the broad ocean, as flat as glass.  “Bob, where are the ocean swells?”  Ok, no swells.  I’ll admit it wasn’t the ocean but I’m trying to make a point here so go with me on this…Sunsets at sea have no peer.Anyway, I won’t beat this to death “Bob, too late, you already have.” except to say that it’s hard to understand, unless you’ve been there.

To be at sea, day after day, alone.  Never sure what will come next.

Still don’t get it?  But wait, there’s hope…  This video, a time lapse movie of a month at sea on a container ship does a wonderful job of illustrating what life at sea is like.  Of course, minus the wave action on a small boat.

Sunlit days, making landfall and spectacular star filled nights…And no, they don’t anchor every night.

It’s about this time every year that I being thinking in earnest about what our cruising plans will be like for the coming winter season.  In past years the question was easily answered as we had new areas to visit and a pretty clear idea of what the coming months would bring.

So, as I sit here, in my office, on the 4th of July, arguably one of the busiest boating weeks of the summer, I really have no clear idea of what’s coming this fall.

The problem is the classic problem of, “life gets in the way” with multiple “events” coming our way that will make it hard to know what’s in store.

The good news is that our son and his wife are expecting twins, perhaps at nearly any time now, and anyone who’s spent time cruising and had grandchildren, especially the “new” kind, know that their arrival on the scene can be really disruptive to the “cruising lifestyle”.

Additionally, Brenda’s been working on a book for some years now and feels that it’s “high time” that she get it off of her plate and off to the publisher.    The good news is that she has a publisher and knows what has to be done.  The bad news is that some of the materials that she really needs to complete it are not under her control so it’s tough to say exactly how long it will be until she can finally get what she needs and get the project done.

One thing for sure is that the publisher’s next deadline to receive the completed manuscript is this coming March.  So, if you do the math, you’ll see that this falls smack dab in the middle of the winter cruising season.

And, as I sit here on July 4th, it’s hard to say, what we will be doing this coming winter season.  I can say for sure that winter in freezing New England and winterizing Pandora leaves me “cold”, but I guess we will have to just wait and see how things develop.

In the mean time, after months of deliberation on when and where, I have arranged to have Pandora’s hull painted and she will be going into the paint shed by mid July.  I’ll be pulling her mast for a rigging inspection close to home in the next week or so and then will take her to a yard in Stratford CT for paint.

The most complex part of the job will be dealing with the rub rail which is wood and wasn’t ever properly prepared to hold a finish.  As a result, the paint on the rail has badly peeled, something that I am hoping to avoid going forward.  That part of the job, as minor as it appears is a big part of the overall cost.

The crew will also sand and paint the bottom, a treat for me as I have never hired anyone for this messy job and have always dealt with bottom paint since my very first boat back in the late 70s.   What a luxury.

Someone once told me that there are two colors for boats, “white and stupid”.  And, with Pandora’s dark hull, some think she’s black, she’s about as stupid as possible.  And, in spite of the fact that most boats are white, I don’t think that Pandora will look good at all with a white hull.  However, we do need to come up with an alternative as the dark hull color is tough to live with under the tropical sun and not only does it get hot down below, but the paint has not held up well since being painted less than five years ago.  Additionally, a dark hull shows every scuff and scratch, much more than a light hull and with a boat that’s used as much as Pandora is, she has plenty of “battle scars”.

Last winter, in Marigot St Lucia, we spied this lovely yacht Elfjie, owned by Wendy Schmidt, wife of Google’s chairman.   I mention this yacht as she’s painted a light grey, Columbia Grey, an unusual color for a yacht.  Most large sailing yachts tend to be painted dark blue or black so she really stands out.  Here’s a shot of her with Pandora in the background.  I wonder if in grey, Pandora would look like Elfjie in Columbia grey?  Probably not  but the color is  still nice. The key will be to choose a color that will be light enough to stay fairly cool and yet still provide enough of a contrast to Pandora’s white decks to retain her sleek look.   We are thinking that medium grey might work.

We’ll also want to revisit her name graphics which were designed for us years ago when we owned our last Pandora.   As this shot shows, or doesn’t, it’s hard to make out her name from any distance.  There’s just not enough contrast and it looks fussy to me in any event. On “old” Pandora we had a drop shadow on the name and I’m thinking that we should loose that affectation on the new color hull.  This is a number of options the designer suggested, shown on a grey background.  Which do you like?  None of the above?One of the problems with graphics location and scale on the hull, is that we have a hefty rub-rail.  That’s good for tangling with docks and pilings but not so great for fitting graphics.  I am also wondering if we should have the graphics sized so that the “tail” on the D goes above the rub-rail.  I also wonder about the “stars”.

One reality is that the aft portion of the hull curves under the transom so putting the logo down lower may not work as well as these treatments might suggest. Well, there’s lots to think about as I prepare Pandora to head into the paint shed.  The good news is that she will be there for about five weeks so there’s plenty of time to think about color and graphics.   As we think about the proper color of grey, I’d be interested in what color you’d choose.  From our way of thinking, the lighter the better.  We are also probably going to have them use a  product called Alexseal, it’s commonly used in large yachts as it is easier to fix scratches and dings than on a hull painted with Awlgrip.  The bad news is that it’s not quite as hard a finish as Awlgrip.    Here’s a link to the color chart.

I plan on photographing the prep and painting process over the time she’s being worked on and will be posting photos of the progress.  It will be nice to see the job progress without me doing the heavy lifting personally.

When she leaves the shed in late August the season here will be just about over so I sure hope that my next step won’t be to book winter storage in the northeast.

Well, as they say, “sometimes life gets in the way” and I guess all of that will just have to play out.

One way or the other, I’ll let you know…

P.S.  Almost forgot.  The reason that I am sitting around doing posts today and not working on that bath remodeling project is that yesterday when I was doing the demo and breaking up the cast iron tub with a sledge hammer, I was hit in the face by a good sized errant piece of cast iron, try 8″,  that flew up after I slammed the sledge hammer on it.  It struck me just under the right eye and gave me quite a cut, right down to the cheek bone.    Good news, the bone didn’t break.

After a few hours visiting my doctor and then off to a plastic surgeon I’m all stitched up but it will be a week until I can resume my project.  This delay, and it could have been a lot worse, will also keep me from dealing with Pandora’s mast removal.

When the surgeon asked me how it happened, and I told him, he said that I really needed to come up with a better story.  Well, I could call it “domestic violence”, and yet another part of life that gets in the way, I guess.   So, more time for blog posts, for now…

Any ideas?

Last weekend I hosted an event, a Gam, for the Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) for the 6th year.  The event took place over a two day period and was a success, even if attendance was down a bit.  It’s a big job to put on an event, big crowd or not and I have to say that as the date approached I thought “I am NEVER doing this again”.

However, as the “curtain went up” and I looked out over all the folks in the audience, my position softened a bit.  A 7th in 2019?  Hmm…

In the run-up to the event had made a big deal out of the planned USCG chopper search and rescue (SAR) demonstration that was to happen on the river and was sad to have it canceled at the very last minute because of bad weather.

In “real life” the USCG goes out in terrible weather but for what is in essence a training exercise, they are more circumspect on considering the risk.  I’ll admit that Saturday’s weather wasn’t ideal, with a lot of haze and a very low cloud ceiling.  Oh well, there’s always next year.  I think that the captain of the chopper felt as badly as I did as I was when she called me to share the bad news as she was keenly aware of how long I had worked on getting approval.  It had taken THREE YEARS.  At least I am persistent.   Next year, the fourth..  Wait!  I thought that “three was the charm”.  Oh well.

Fortunately, Ginger and Peter of SV Irene came to our rescue to fill in the agenda.  Ginger presented to us about their trip in the summer of 2016 through the North West Passage.  Thank God for global warming and their successful trip or I don’t know what I would have done to fill the void.  “Hey everybody, listen up, let me show you all the great shadow puppet characters I know.  This is a bat, watch it fly away…”

Anyway, chopper or not, they did bring a rescue boat and gave tours.  The crew even stayed for lunch, flack jackets and all.   It was fun and they made a big hit.  Folks lined up at the dock for a peek aboard. I’d be thrilled to be rescued by these guys but it wouldn’t be so great to be boarded if I had something to hide.  “Sir, just how much rum do you have aboard?” He looks like he’s all business.  “But officer, all of these cases are just ships stores and for personal consumption. Really!” “Yeah, sure, over the next 100 years. Can I see your documentation and passport please?”Every aspect of these boats are designed for tough conditions.  And, blasting along at 45kts in rough conditions, these seats would come in very handy.  “Pick me! I want to go for ride!  I’ll even post photos on Facebook and write a blog post about it.  I promise!On Friday night, for the “early birds” Brenda and I hosted a get-together aboard Pandora.  We had a fun crowd aboard.   They filled the cockpit and then some.Some sat down below.   There was plenty of food to go around. Many arrived in their “private launches”.    I guess they sent their crew home early except the poor guy who was hugging Pandora’s transom.   “Hey, you, crew guy, Stay in the launch.  Buffy and Charles aren’t ready to leave just yet.” I wonder if anyone noticed Brenda’s most recent addition to Pandora’s decor?  The rug pays homage to our roots as catboat sailors.    Alas, just like every boat we’ve ever had, nothing quite fits.   It’s lovely, never the less. So, the weekend was a big success and we had fun.  After it was over my event partner George was just happy to sit and relax.   Everybody loves George, especially his canine buddies.  “Can I have a cookie Dad!  Please?”  Does this guy look mellow or what?There you have it, the 6th annual Summer Solstice Gam has come and gone along with the weather that kept the USCG Calvary from showing us their SAR stuff.  Such is the boating life where somehow it’s always about the weather.  Better luck next year.  Yes, me and the dog, ever hopeful.  Perhaps 4 will be the charm.

And speaking of the 4th, it’s Saturday and the 4th of July is just around the corner.  Hey, here’s an idea?  Let’s go hang out on the river?

Yes, that’s the plan.  Just us hanging out with thousands of our closest friends.

“Thanks for the wake buddy!”

It is summer, after all.

When Brenda and I purchased our very first boat, the 20′ Cape Cod catboat Tao in the late 80s, we kept her in Bridgeport CT and often sailed to Port Jefferson on Long Island and occasionally, destinations as far away as Nantucket and New Jersey.  And let me tell you, that’s a really long way in a 20′ boat with a 5hp diesel engine.

As all my photos of Tao are slides, and exist in a massive pile somewhere in the attic, I can’t show them here.  However, I do have a photo of a painting that my good friend and artist Chris Blossom did for me as a birthday present way back in 1984.  She was a beautiful, if tiny, boat and the closest that we ever got to owing a classic.  Built in the late 70s, she was classic in design but modern in construction.  I first spied the yacht Marilee, the subject of this post, in Port Jefferson in the early 80s, when we sailed Tao across Long Island Sound from her home port in  Bridgeport CT.  The ten mile sail seemed like a real journey back then with no dodger and only sitting headroom below.

We’d generally set out from Bridgeport on a Friday evening to make our way to Port Jefferson, or “PJ” as we called it at the time.   We’d rendezvous with friends and raft up with them for the weekend before heading back home on Sunday afternoon.  Some years later, when we all had young children and slightly larger boats, in our case, another catboat, a whopping 2′ longer, we’d designate one of the boats as the “kid boat” and the “adults”, such as we were, would sit on another, enjoying the relative solitude with the kids nearby but not underfoot.

It was during that time that I first saw Marilee, anchored in Port Jefferson harbor with a big brown and yellow striped sun awning covering her decks.  I never saw her under sail and expect that she wasn’t in good enough shape to head out anyway as were so many of the aging classics in those days.

Brenda and I, some years later, became active as board members for The Catboat Association and were invited to a fundraising event in Tom’s River NJ, not far from our home at the time, also in New Jersey, as house guests of Peter Kellogg, the billionaire philanthropist and one of the supporters of Marilee’s restoration for the America’s Cup Jubilee celebration in Cowes England, home to the first race for what was to become the “America’s Cup”.

Peter, at that time, was involved in a fund raiser for the A Cat class in Toms River and, as representatives of the CBA board, Brenda and I were invited to attend the event as his guests and stay at Peter’s summer home.  Even though he was no longer an owner of Marilee at that time, it was clear that he was still very proud of her as we saw all sorts of memorabilia including a painting of her that he had commissioned during his years as a part owner.   So, once again, Marilee, sort of, came back into our lives.

My dream,at the time, was that I’d someday own a “real” classic but as the years passed, and while we once came precariously close to purchasing an old wooden Crosby catboat,  we became much more practical in our choice of boats which is certainly evident in current Pandora, which couldn’t be further afield from Tao.

To be completely candid, Brenda is of the view that if I was truly “balanced” I’d have a little electric launch on the CT river and “stop with all that toing and froing, already” (to the Caribbean).  But, that’s another story.

And, speaking of Pandora, I have posted a LOT of photos in the past but it still seems right to me to put her up yet again for comparison.Anyway, back to my story.  So, for the nearly 40 years since first seeing Marilee in Port Jefferson,  I have continued to have an eye for beautiful yachts and am particularly drawn to those that I encountered from the deck of Tao.  Now, many years later, some of these, and Marilee in particular, rejoin our world from time to time.

I have written about many classics over the twelve years that I have kept this blog, and especially during our last two seasons in the Caribbean.   With regards to Marilee, I was just “reintroduced” to her, now for a third time, the very same Marilee that I first saw from the deck of Tao so long ago.

Marilee, is a member of the NY 40 class, designed by the Nat Herreshoff, the iconic yacht designer and was launched in 1926.  She is one of the last two hulls launched of the 14 in the class, built for members of the NY Yacht Club by the Herreshoff company in Bristol RI.  In the photo below, she’s the one with the “fighting 40” boxer logo on her sail.  This was the informal name for the class when they were raced as one designs by members of the club.  I found this shot on her “official” site .  It’s an impressive shot and she’s clearly in good company. The NY40 class boats were raced by club members for a number of years but that was ultimately interrupted by the outbreak of WWI.   By the time racing was resumed, the boats were sold as their owners moved on to more modern designs.

Only four of these iconic yachts have survived and live on with owners who have  pockets deep enough to keep these beautiful classics in prime condition, no simple feat.

Marilee is one of these lucky yachts, perhaps the finest of her class in existence, and reentered my world, yet again, when I viewed a documentary film that chronicles her history and most recent restoration.

Those who follow this blog know that I make it a point to find my way aboard as many classic yachts as I can and while I have never been aboard Marilee, she has been in my mind as a very special yacht since our days of sailing our own “classic” Tao.

It wasn’t until the early 80s, around the time that John Wilson “launched” Wooden Boat Magazine, and, in part, catalyzed what has become a wave of restorations of many of the remaining classics worth preserving, like Marilee that she was brought back from near death.

She underwent her first major restoration in 2000, funded by a small group of New York Yacht Club members, including Peter Kellog, in preparation for the America’s Cup Jubilee in Cowes England.  She did well and won many races during that series.

Fast forward to this morning when I saw that wonderful video chronicling her most  recent restoration.    Yes, I know that most restoration videos, a sort of “we replaced 40% of her frames…” type can be boring, but this video is particularly well done and includes fascinating historical information along with some details of her restoration.  You should watch it.So, there you have it, a boat that I have never been aboard an yet still somehow feels like she has been a part of our lives for years.

These chance encounters with Marilee are a lot like the cruising lifestyle, where friends come and go with the seasons.   And while it may be months or years between those chance encounters, seeing them again brings back a wave of memories as we say “hello” yet again.

For me, Marilee is one of those memories of times past.  Our children are grown and have kids of their own and it’s nice to know that Marilee, that we first saw when we were newly married, is still out there and has a caring owner who is willing and able to put resources into keeping her in the condition she deserves.

I wonder when I’ll next “see” her again?  Time will tell…

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t get a thrill when I saw a chopper flying overhead or spied one at an airshow.  My late father, who passed a few years ago, worked for a company that published a magazine for the commercial aircraft business and highlights of my childhood included visits to airshows as a, sort of VIP, with access to some awesome machines.

I am involved with a group that does sailboat rallies to the Caribbean, the Salty Dawg Sailing Association, and every other year in Hampton VA, prior to the departure of the fleet, the USCG does a SAR demonstration near the docks.  I was there for the demo two years ago and to see the chopper hover and the crew doing their “rescue” was amazing.     As a point of interest, this yellow chopper, all the others are orange and white, was commissioned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Service.  As they hovered over the harbor, they kicked up massive amounts of spray which carried over the marina.  They also brought in a great little Response Boat to be sure that nobody strayed into the “drop zone”.  Perhaps my fascination with flying, and with helicopters in particular, was fueled by Dad’s love of airplanes and especially WWII aircraft.   Back in June of 2013, a few years before he passed, I happened upon some information about a super yacht owner who also owned a number of WWII aircraft and wrote a post about him, his yacht Marie and all those wonderful airplanes.   In reality, it was a post for my Dad and to this day and nearly 1,000 posts, it’s still my favorite.  If that hasn’t inspired you to click on that link, there are some awesome professional video clips of his planes putting on an airshow in St Barths a few years ago.

That post led to Brenda and I being invited to visit Ed’s (the owner of those awesome planes) island in the Bahamas, twice, and sailing on his 200′ sailboat, Marie for three days.  That proves, for sure, that you never know what life will lead to.

Anyway, I digress…  I mention all of this as three years ago I decided that I just had to try and arrange “my own” USCG “show” in Essex with one of their helicopters.  I contacted the Coast Guard and asked about the process which turned out to be the same as if I was putting on a full scale airshow and wanted a military hardware to show up, which is to say complicated.

I made calls, filled out the paperwork, wrote an essay about my planned Seven Seas Cruising Association SSCA Essex Summer Solstice Gam, (say that three times fast) which I put on with a friend in Essex each June, and made my application.   It was rejected…

Undeterred, I applied again the following year and it was approved…and canceled.  Sigh…  Ok, one more try.  So, last October I applied for a third time. and again… declined because of safety concerns in busy Essex Harbor.

However, as Brenda always says, “Bob and the dog, ever hopeful” and I appealed, sent a detailed annotated chart of harbor and drop area and submitted it yet a fourth time.   This is the chart I sent to the public affairs office showing the mooring field in brown and the “drop area” in orange.    See, this can work.  Right?  Perfectly safe!I guess somebody with clout agreed and it seems that four times is the charm as yesterday I got word that the operation, chopper, 45′ Response Boat Medium, I prefer “cutter” and lots of Coasties, was approved for a Search and Rescue Demonstration.  Yahoo!

I mention all of this because this means that if you join us at our SSCA meeting on June 22nd to 24th at the Essex Yacht Club in Essex CT you will have a front row seat at this wonderful event.  I have even arranged to have the 45′ “cutter” and her crew at the club dock and expect that the crew will join us for lunch and talk about what they do every day to keep us safe on the water.

Here’s a photo of the boat that will be at the Essex Yacht Club dock for the event.  And, this shot was taken at the mouth of the CT River.  Perfect!  I wonder if they will take me for a ride?  Oh wait, I’ll be too busy.  Perhaps a rain check. Unfortunately, the club grounds aren’t big enough to land the chopper though so we won’t meet the crew of the chopper.  Don’t believe that I didn’t try to get that approved.   You know me, ‘EVER HOPEFUL”.

And, speaking of approvals, one of my USCG contacts told me that in his five years on the job, my event is the ONLY civilian SAR demo that he has seen approved.   All of them were a part of a big event like an airshow.  Go me!  No… go SSCA!

Well, the fact is that it’s all about my Dad who always told me “the worse that can happen is that they will say no”.    Actually, sometimes just asking has gotten me into plenty of hot water but I won’t talk about that right now.

And besides, he loved anything that flies and so do I.

For sure, he would have been thrilled.   And me? I’m still the little boy who wants to go for a ride in a helicopter or at least see one… 

One more thing.  Don’t forget to sign up.  You’ll be glad you did.  Besides, there’s much more fun to be had.  Click here to see the full agenda.  You’ll be glad you did.

Don’t want to miss out?  You won’t if you sign up here.